Hope this is helpful to someone.
@forestglip @GreenEdge
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Before going into the very low carbohydrate diet, I was probably a little deficient in fat and protein because of my living situation.
So I did go into low carb with less than optimal energy production.
But energy production issues are precisely what pwME have.
Before committing to the diet, I did a few isolated days of low carb to test the waters. From Day 1, I got immediate symptoms: severe fatigue, anxiety, insomnia and a constant ravenous hunger, among other issues. In this testing phase, when I'd go back to eating my usual diet, the symptoms stopped.
But I was convinced this was the way, and the low carb community insisted that the symptoms were "die off" and this was the only way to heal.
So I started the diet again, and continued it for 13 months.
This is a simplified version of what happened:
Day 1 Low Carb - Symptoms XYZ begin
Day 2 Usual Diet - Symptoms XYZ stop
Day 3 Low Carb - Symptoms XYZ return
Days 4 - 400 Low Carb - Symptoms XYZ intensify
Day 401 - Slowly reintroduce carbs in the form of ripe fruit - Symptoms XYZ decrease*
Yet I've had people, including doctors, insist that I "can't know it was low carb creating these symptoms." LOL. The cause and effect relationship couldn't have been more obvious.
* The symptoms decreased once I stopped low carb but did not abate. Because after a year plus, I'd damaged my glucose metabolism enough that the symptoms have never gone away. Not even 14 years later.
On the diet, I tried different macronutrient ratios with regard to fat and protein while I was on the diet. My main foods were beef, eggs, some chicken and fish. Mostly grassfed and organic meat.
Sometimes the low-carb people advising me told me to eat a few tablespoons of coconut oil a day, so I did that too. I also rendered my own lard and beef tallow and used both of those. I also ate a few low-carb vegetables off and on.
My fat and protein ratios did not stay perfectly consistent throughout the 13 months. I suppose it was high fat, though my memory's hazy on that. I was experimenting with different things but The main thing that remained consistent was keeping carbs below 20 g at the very highest and often below 5 or 10 grams. And I did have a few months in there where I ate absolutely no vegetables.
Low carbing destroyed my metabolism to where I gained massive amounts of weight during that year, and the weight gain continued over the next few years. I had never had a single issue with weight gain before this diet.
My fasting blood sugar was in the healthy range just months before the diet. When I tested it during the diet and every year since quitting the diet, it has been prediabetic.
I have lost some of that weight in recent years after getting on thyroid meds because the diet caused me to develop hypothyroidism. Of course I have been eating plenty of carbs, in addition to adequate protein and fat, while losing the weight.
I was always hungry on low carb because I was starving my body of glucose. And this symptom has only decreased somewhat now that I supply my body with sufficient amounts of glucose since 2011, but it has never gone away. This disordered eating was such an insult to my body I've never recovered.
Low carb was also the final straw that pushed me into ME/CFS.
My ME onset was multi-factorial like most people, but a very low carb diet was the final insult and injury that pushed me into a disease state.
Plus hair loss, translucent teeth, and other things I'm forgetting.
No one is going to find the answer to why it didn't work for me based on whether I ate too much fat or too little fat or not the right type of meat. The fact is that low carb is not good for everyone. I believe that it's not good for any humans, long term.
I'm not an outlier for whom low carb failed in a fluke. I've met lots of people with similar experiences. For example, many like me wind up in the groups dedicated to studying Ray Peat, PhD (because he promoted a balanced diet with a higher amount of carbs---but NOT veganism! There's a whole world between the extremes of veganism and carnivore.)
If I had an immediate severe response to starving myself of glucose, why did I continue the diet for over 1 year?
Because back then I had a really disordered attitude toward food and my body and I believed you had to suffer to heal. That's essentially the rhetoric behind "retracing" and "die-off" theories. That's why I continued to abuse myself with this.
However, if you go low carb and feel good from the beginning, it doesn't mean this won't happen to you. It might just take longer for things to break down.
A lot of people frame this in moralistic terms or see their failure to commit to low carb as low willpower or something. Like they'll say, I tried low carb for a week but I am just too addicted to fruit or potatoes or whatever. (Sugar is not an addiction either IMO. If you "can't quit" it's because your metabolism is compromised and your cells need more glucose quickly to produce energy. Sucrose is quickly converted to glucose.)
When really it's not about addiction, it's about human physiology. No one says they're addicted to air but if there was some new health fad where you had to stop breathing for periods of time I'm sure there would be some moralizing about how weak people are because they're just so addicted to it.
We run on energy produced from glucose. And solely relying on the conversion of fat and protein to glucose to supply every cell in your body with energy is a profoundly inefficient and harmful way to go about it.
There's often a honeymoon period Where people feel better for a while. Sometimes that honeymoon can go on for a long time.
Finally,
Please be careful with low carb and carnivore diets. It was probably the worst decision I ever made in my life. And I hate to see others make the same mistake.
Be well everyone. Listen to your body and honor what it needs.
If your body truly needs you to restrict a class of nutrients for a while, OK.
But be open to those needs changing in the future.
